The Littles
The Littles is an animated television series based on The Littles characters in a series of children's novels by American author John Peterson, the first of which was published in 1967. This cartoon was produced by a French/American/Canadian animation studio, DiC Entertainment, and as standard practice for TV cartoons of the period, the animation production was outsourced overseas to the Japanese studio TMS Entertainment. It was post-produced by a Canadian Animation studio, Animation City Editorial Services. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=1 edit Family tree In the TV series the family tree is mostly clear. Frank and Helen are the parents of Tom and Lucy, Grandpa is the father of Helen, and Dinky is a cousin (presumed first cousin) of Tom and Lucy. In the books the family tree is never explicitly identified. Occasional references to relationships indicate a family tree, but the references are conflicting. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=2 edit Differences from the books Besides the family tree, other notable differences between the TV series and the books included: *Henry knowing about the Littles was unique to the TV series and the movie, Here Come the Littles. The first season never revealed how Henry met the Littles; during the opening credits Henry simply tells the audience that he has "a very special secret" -- that he's the only one who knows about the Littles. During the second season, the opening credits said that Henry first met the Littles when Tom and Lucy fell inside his suitcase as he was moving, and they jumped out when he opened the suitcase. In the movie, however, Tom and Lucy still get trapped inside Henry's suitcase, but Henry doesn't discover the Littles until much later; he first sees Grandpa and Dinky in his uncle's yard, while Tom and Lucy later befriend him when they need his help. Henry took great care to keep the Littles' existence a secret, even from his own parents. Although he betrayed them in one episode ("Dinky's Doomsday Pizza"), the entire incident and its resulting fallout turned out to be only a dream that Dinky was having. *Characters unique to the TV series. Most notable are the two villains, Dr. Hunter and his assistant, Peterson. Hunter is a scientist who has been trying to capture a Little to prove his theories, but has been unsuccessful, although he came close at times. Peterson, Hunter's assistant, may be a nod to John Peterson, who wrote the books on which the series is based. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=3 edit Episode themes and structure During the first two seasons, many of the episodes contained moral lessons or addressed specific issues, such as running away from home ("The Little Fairy Tale"), drug abuse ("Prescription for Disaster") and jealousy ("Lights, Camera, Littles" and "Twins"). The first two seasons also featured simple arts and crafts at the end of each episode ("Little Ideas for Big People"), with the second season using suggestions sent in by viewers. During the third season, a segment called "A Little Known Fact" highlighted historical or geographic trivia that was related to the episode. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=4 edit Cartoon voices *Jimmy Keegan as Henry Bigg *Alvy Moore as Grandpa Little *Gregg Berger as Frank Little *Patricia Parris as Helen Little *Donavan Freberg as Tom Little (Seasons 1-2) *David Wagner as Tom Little (Season 3) *Bettina Bush as Lucy Little *B.J. Ward as Ashley Little (Seasons 2-3)' *Frank Welker as Slick (Season 1) *Pat Fraley as Slick (Seasons 2-3) *Robert David Hall as Mr. Bigg and Dinky Little *Laurel Page as Mrs. Bigg *Ken Sansom as Dr. Hunter and Peterson *Rachelle Cano Opening and Closing Theme Vocals http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=5 edit TV history Along with Inspector Gadget and Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, The Littles was one of the first cartoons produced by DIC Entertainment for American television, and was the only one of the three to air on a network, rather than in syndication. The first two seasons of shows feature The Littles around the Bigg household, but to improve the show's popularity the final season features the Littles traveling around the world. During the production run of the show, the Littles were also popular enough to warrant two movie tie-ins: *On May 24, 1985, the Littles starred in their first animated feature, Here Come the Littles, which serves a prequel to the TV series. It was directed by Bernard Deyriès and written by Eleanor Burian-Mohr, Jack Olesker, and Jeffrey Scott. This is available on DVD. *The following year (1986), a made-for-TV movie was created starring the Littles, Liberty and the Littles. This film was also directed by Bernard Deyriès and written by Heywood Kling. This second movie was subsequently edited into a three-part episode and included in the third season of the series. Liberty and the Littles, which also aired in three parts during the ninth season of the ABC Weekend Special, was released on VHS but is now out of print. However, the episode is available on DVD. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=6 edit Broadcast history in the USA *ABC (September 10, 1983 to September 6, 1986) *The Family Channel (September 4, 1989 to December 31, 1993)[1][2] *Toon Disney (April 18, 1998 to September 2, 2002) *Syndication (September 2003 to present) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=7 edit Broadcast history Internationally The Littles also aired in a number of oversea countries including: *Australia *Brazil (Os Pequeninos) *France (Les Minipouss) *Finland *Germany (Die Littles) *Greece *Italy (I Piccoli) *Poland (Malusińscy) *Spain (Los diminutos) *Sweden and most likely others. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=8 edit Episode list (An asterisk (*) denotes an episode that was not rerun in syndication.) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=9 edit Season 1 (1983-84) ---- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=10 edit Season 2 (1984-85) ---- http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=11 edit Season 3 (1985-86) http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=12 edit DVD releases On November 13, 2007, S'more Entertainment released The Littles - The Complete Unedited Series on DVD in Region 1. On July 19, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released the entire series on DVD in a 3-disc set entitled The Littles: The Complete Series.[3] It contains the two Animated movies Here Comes the Littles and Liberty and the Littles. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=13 edit Other Merchandse Some of the merchandise that was released during the series run included: tie-in story books, a Milton-Bradley board game, stickers and greeting cards. Foreign merchandise included many more items such as Halloween Masks, a set of figures, card game, vhs, records, and more. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Littles_%28TV_series%29&action=edit&section=14 edit See also *''Here Come the Littles'' animated feature film